I have loved food as far as I can remember. Some of my fondest memories go back to my Grandma's dirty kitchen in the Philippines. The smell of singed banana leaves and burning coconut husks. Sounds of sizzling garlic and onions in her huge metal wok and the taste of fresh coconut milk 'sabaw' on fragrant rice. Here is where I learned to appreciate good and honest food. Another favourite is biting into pillowy soft sioapao then reaching the sweet, salty and garlicky filling. Slurping on saucy 'lug lug' freshly made from the market, filled with tasty toppings of cured trout, seafood, diced pork belly, spring onions, chicharon and calamansi. Lastly, the feeling of a warm bag of pandesal first thing in the morning and the sweet steam of breaking one open. Bliss!
As I grew older and moved back to London, most of these flavours soon became a distant memory and was never quite the same. Nonetheless, I learned to enjoy some of the English home comforts and other spices and herbs around the rest of the world. Like many, the experience of eating good food brings me so much joy, although there's nothing that quite compares to cooking and sharing the love through food. So here I would like to give you some of my favourite things to eat with the ingredients made available to you. I'm far from being a Michelin starred chef, just a girl that knows what she likes to eat!
